Mellow times at Raiders Inc.

Have things chilled out at Raiders Inc. this offseason? Of course they have. Quite frankly, how wild should the times be after 61 losses in five years?

Raiders coach Lane Kiffin has, in fact, mellowed out in Offseason II. Gone is the youthful exuberance we saw at OTA workouts last year, where Kiffin was yelling and screaming and clapping his hands over plays both fantastic and obscure.

The assistant coaches no longer chase players across the field and run them back into the huddle. Even new receivers coach James Lofton, who is reputed as quite the yeller, was pretty quiet at the past two media-access OTAs.

Does that mean Kiffin has given up and detached himself emotionally from the team, as submitted by a local columnist today?

Hardly. Most newlyweds are overly public with their affection the first time through.

When Kiffin was hired as the youngest coach in NFL modern history, he acted every bit the 31-year-old part on and off the field, but it sure beat the podium acts of Bill Belichick and Tom Coughlin during Super Bowl week.

He spent the majority of his coaching career under Pete Carroll, the most bubbly grown-up around, and it showed during practice.

A 4-12 season, followed by a rocky offseason with The Boss, has a way of taking some of the air out of the party. The honeymoon is over, and it took some of the awestruck glow with it. That should come as no surprise to anyone.

More to the point, Kiffin learned that you can’t always motivate paid professionals the same way you can rah-rah the college kids at USC. This is a business, and his recent business approach reflects his most recent experience.

Kiffin isn’t a rookie anymore, so don’t expect him to act like one.

Speaking of mellow times …

The Raiders are off next week and return June 3-5 for a mandatory minicamp. With a veteran quarterback in the bag (Marques Tuiasosopo), that pretty much wrapped up their free agent shopping for now.

With that in mind, expect this blog to slow down accordingly. Daily posts will resume Monday, June 2.